Having imported and run Mazda Bongos for a few years, I decided that as the kids were getting bigger, we needed a bigger van. I also decided it had to be 4×4 like the Bongos. This shirted the list of vehicles considerably. Thankfully, I had red wine and EBay.
The morning after the night before I noticed the ‘congratulations’ message from EBay and got a lovely surprise. Realising I had bought a 4 tonne vehicle with no MoT that was at the other end of the country gave me an additional headache to the hangover.
I arranged to take a hire car from York Station to Hereford and to leave it in Hereford to drive the Ambulance home. The plan was to pre-book it into my local MoT place….you can drive to a pre-arranged MoT without a current test. 😉
The car hire place hadn’t got a one-way car for me even though I had the booking paperwork to say that’s what I’d booked. I dashed around the other car hire places and none could help so I jumped on a train and headed to Hereford…..
The seller arranged to meet me at Hereford station so I stood and waited for him…..after an hour or so, I was beginning to think he wasn’t going to turn up…..so I tried to ring him. But my phone had run out of battery…..
He did turn up three hours late. I jumped in his van and he drove me for ages until we arrived at a deserted industrial estate. It was about 4:30pm by now, I had a wad of cash in my pocket and I’d been driven miles to the middle of nowhere by a strange bloke, to meet his mates……..
Anyhooo……. the Ambulance was as described but had a flat battery. I got it jump started, and got enough charge in my phone to use http://www.aviva.co.uk/short-term-car-insurance/ to get insurance cover. My plan to go to a pre-booked MoT back in Whitby fell to bits now as it was a 5 hour drive home. Not many policemen would believe that my MoT place was waiting for me at 10pm. My phone gave me a couple of MoT places close by and one had a big enough lift and I managed to persuade them to fit me in.
Once at the MoT place I explained to the MoT guy that I was driving the ambulance back to North Yorkshire and that the wafty wheel bearings were an advisory……wink wink.
Driving home was fun as I couldn’t stop the engine……..I found services that had a sloping forecourt so I could fill-up with diesel and bump-start it.
The trip home was pretty pleasant. Until I got home.
It was 11pm and swmbo met me on the doorstep. I’m guessing she got a bit confused as she failed to recognise what and ambulance looks like. “What the hell is that?” she emquired. “An ambulance” I explained.
The next day we took it for a drive and had our first night out in it. The kids slept on a stretcher each and me and the mrs slept on inflatable beds on the floor. It was very cold but the kids liked playing with all the ambulance kit. Swmbo wasn’t so keep when they were playing with the ‘paediatric amputation kit’.
I fired-up the saw and the ambulance started to change….
Bongos too small….the beginning.
Having imported and run Mazda Bongos for a few years, I decided that as the kids were getting bigger, we needed a bigger van. I also decided it had to be 4×4 like the Bongos. This shirted the list of vehicles considerably. Thankfully, I had red wine and EBay.
The morning after the night before I noticed the ‘congratulations’ message from EBay and got a lovely surprise. Realising I had bought a 4 tonne vehicle with no MoT that was at the other end of the country gave me an additional headache to the hangover.
I arranged to take a hire car from York Station to Hereford and to leave it in Hereford to drive the Ambulance home. The plan was to pre-book it into my local MoT place….you can drive to a pre-arranged MoT without a current test. 😉
The car hire place hadn’t got a one-way car for me even though I had the booking paperwork to say that’s what I’d booked. I dashed around the other car hire places and none could help so I jumped on a train and headed to Hereford…..
The seller arranged to meet me at Hereford station so I stood and waited for him…..after an hour or so, I was beginning to think he wasn’t going to turn up…..so I tried to ring him. But my phone had run out of battery…..
He did turn up three hours late. I jumped in his van and he drove me for ages until we arrived at a deserted industrial estate. It was about 4:30pm by now, I had a wad of cash in my pocket and I’d been driven miles to the middle of nowhere by a strange bloke, to meet his mates……..
Anyhooo……. the Ambulance was as described but had a flat battery. I got it jump started, and got enough charge in my phone to use http://www.aviva.co.uk/short-term-car-insurance/ to get insurance cover. My plan to go to a pre-booked MoT back in Whitby fell to bits now as it was a 5 hour drive home. Not many policemen would believe that my MoT place was waiting for me at 10pm. My phone gave me a couple of MoT places close by and one had a big enough lift and I managed to persuade them to fit me in.
Once at the MoT place I explained to the MoT guy that I was driving the ambulance back to North Yorkshire and that the wafty wheel bearings were an advisory……wink wink.
Driving home was fun as I couldn’t stop the engine……..I found services that had a sloping forecourt so I could fill-up with diesel and bump-start it.
The trip home was pretty pleasant. Until I got home.
It was 11pm and swmbo met me on the doorstep. I’m guessing she got a bit confused as she failed to recognise what and ambulance looks like. “What the hell is that?” she emquired. “An ambulance” I explained.
The next day we took it for a drive and had our first night out in it. The kids slept on a stretcher each and me and the mrs slept on inflatable beds on the floor. It was very cold but the kids liked playing with all the ambulance kit. Swmbo wasn’t so keep when they were playing with the ‘paediatric amputation kit’.
I fired-up the saw and the ambulance started to change….